Find a forever friend at the SPCA

Like a
proud parent, I can't help but brag about my success with adopting
a pet at the SPCA. Finnegan, of course, is taken, but there are many
more dogs and cats waiting to be your new best friend.

Stop by
the SPCA of Niagara at 2100 Lockport Road, Wheatfield; call 716-731-4368;
or go online at www.niagaraspca.org
to find out more about adopting, fostering, sponsoring, volunteering
or donating to a good cause.

Adoption
fees vary, primarily depending on the type and age of the animal. The
fee includes spaying or neutering of the animal, appropriate
vaccinations, microchip insertion, a free veterinary exam and 30 days
pet health insurance.

Check
the Tribune's classified section. The adoption fee is halved for
SPCA pets featured there. The SPCA also often offers special
promotions.

For
December, fees were waived, and 168 dogs and cats found new homes for
the holidays.

Andrew
Bell, SPCA executive director, called it "the most successful
adoption month ever in the history of the shelter."

The SPCA
of Niagara, with a new board of directors and new management, has
been working hard to become a "no kill" shelter and erase the bad
image created just a year ago when protestors walked outside the
facility upset by the shelter's high kill rate and euthanasia
methods. The 99 percent December save rate made it three straight
months the shelter has bettered the no kill benchmark of 90 percent.

"I think
we can officially say we are a no kill shelter now," Bell said.

Bell
credited the hard work of the SPCA staff and the support of the
community in making this happen.

Lauren
Zaninovich, SPCA lobby supervisor, told me I'm too late to bring a
thank-you dog biscuit to Elliott, the 11-year-old black lab mix that
helped me decide to adopt Finnegan. Happily, Elliott was adopted last
month, and his new owner is so pleased, he wrote a letter to shelter
director Amy Lewis saying so.

Zaninovich
points out that older animals make good pets too, and the fee for
dogs over the age of 10 and cats over the age of 8 is always waived.

Bell said
the shelter still has a fair mix of dog breeds available for
adoption.

Anyone
interested in a particular breed, size or age of animal can make a
special request to be notified if one comes into the shelter.
Potential owners also can pay $30 to put a temporary hold on an
animal while they make a decision. That fee is credited to the
adoption fee if the adoption goes through.

Don't
wait too long, however. The shelter may be no kill now, but more and
more people are discovering that the SPCA is a good place to find a
pet.

"Animals
are moving in and out quite quickly these days," Bell said. "The
Finnegans of the world don't last long here at the shelter."